Tuesday, 14 October 2014

Film fans were stunned and delighted last night when Jennifer Lawrence, multi-award-winning star of The Hunger Games, X-Men: Days of Future Past and American Hustle, made a surprise appearance ahead of the London Film Festival screening of her new film, Serena, along with the film's director Susanne Bier.

The film is a relatively small part of the festival but with the two leads played by Lawrence and her Silver Linings Playbook co-star, Bradley Cooper, it was bound to generate plenty of interest – though clearly few had expected either of the stars to make an appearance for the film’s premiere.

The room erupted in rapturous applause as Lawrence was introduced and, after an impressive build-up about the 'huge' surprise, the star joked that if the surprise was actually popcorn and not her then she was leaving.

The audience were almost too in awe to laugh, though Lawrence was undeterred and continued in much the same tongue-in-cheek manner. When Bier said to the audience that she hoped people enjoyed the film, Lawrence quipped 'if you don't [like it] just don't tweet about it'.

Looking elegant and striking in a simple black dress jacket and heels, the actress was able to keep the jokes at bay just long enough to thank the audience for supporting Serena, a film that has been a long time coming. 'Thank you guys so much for being here,’ she said. ‘I hope you enjoy it.'

And then she was gone, her flight back to LA waiting for her.

After Lawrence's fleeting introduction the audience seemed far too excited to settle into the film straight away but as the lights went down the whole room seemed to share a collective sigh.